Purpose: The South African vocational education and training (VET) sector is required by legislation to redefine postsecondary education, advance industrialisation and expand the job market to address unemployment in the country. Yet, VET leaders' heterogenous educational and occupational backgrounds do not enable them to address the needs of the…

This study investigated the mentoring of academics for leadership and management in higher education institutions through the application of contextual intelligence. Experts and professionals generally agree that effective institutional leadership and management mentorship, using contextual knowledge, is crucial for achieving institutional…

Stakeholders agree that accounting graduates need excellent relational acumen (communication, leadership, people, relationship-building, teamwork, self-management, and emotional intelligence [EI] skills) to successfully navigate an increasingly multicultural and digitally impacted workplace. Prior research has mainly evaluated the effectiveness of…

In many countries across the globe, and on the African continent in particular, young people do not have a voice in matters concerning their schooling. By virtue of their minor status, opportunities for participatory decision-making and leadership in schools are restricted, despite national policies to the contrary. This is all-too-often because…

Learners, because of their minor status, are a virtual absence in everyday school leadership work, particularly on the African continent. School leadership, therefore, continues to be misconceived as an adult phenomenon. Framed by Cultural Historical Activity Theory, this paper reports on a Southern African Higher Education study that engages with…

The South African Association of Senior Student Affairs Professionals (SAASSAP) hosted a three-day conference on "Ramping up engaged scholarship, gender equity, and enhancing leadership in student affairs practice" at Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), from 2 to 4 December 2021. The meeting, which was attended by…

This research explores the existence of differential group-level experiences in a South African retail group's leadership development programme (LDP). Primary data were collected with semistructured intersectional focus groups. Findings were triangulated with secondary data from organizational document analysis. Emerging themes were identified…

This reflective article focuses on the Chemical Engineering Students Association (CESA) at a South African university, which was established as a voluntary student organisation to alleviate the problems of student isolation and inadequate orientation programmes by promoting student-centredness and development. The article aims to examine CESA's…

This study reports on the challenges facing multigrade principals. Principals are regarded as curriculum leaders and have critical roles to play in the success of the school. However, school principals experience a myriad of complex challenges in the execution of their roles and responsibilities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to…

While shadowing as a method has been analysed and discussed, these discussions have often been focused on (business) management research as opposed to school leadership research. Additionally, little attention has so far been paid to the parameters of shadowing. Without knowledge of these matters, the validity, merits and difficulties of shadowing…

Mentoring (healthcare) research from low-to-middle-income countries is critical for developing evidence-based healthcare solutions. This paper presents findings from a study of the mentoring and supervisory relationships embedded in a South African fellowship program for early career healthcare researchers. The findings demonstrate how, rather…

Accounting graduates progress to hold a variety of roles in society, often comprising positions of leadership. Yet studies continue to show that accounting graduates are underdeveloped in several competencies affiliated with leadership. These competencies are well-aligned with Responsible Leadership (RL) theory, and expectations of accounting…

The Fallist movements of 2015/16 brought about rapid change to the South African higher education space, which required student leaders to reconsider their roles as agents of change and transformation. Student leaders contribute as stakeholders of and decision-makers in student governance, and some find themselves in a context where their working…

This study was undertaken to explore the role of principals in capacity development of post level one teachers for school leadership positions. The success of a school and its attendant learner achievement depends largely on good school leadership. Thus, it is highly unlikely that poor or ineffective school leadership will lead to successful…

Just as we can't expect actors trained primarily for the stage to perform the same way in films, conventional Public Speaking (PS) must adapted to digital environments. This shift emphasizes the need to treat Digital Oratory (DO) as a separate, skill-based discipline. Our research aims to examine DO instruction in English as a Foreign Language…